Kind volunteers are knitting cozy nests for rescued wild animals
Katie Deline-Ray wants to help injured wildlife feel a little cozier.
Her global volunteer network, Wildlife Rescue Nests, knits hundreds of tiny nests for birds and mammals who have sustained injuries or lost their habitats in the wild.
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Image: facebook/wildlife rescue nests
As the animals recover in rehabilitation centers, the nests are an important part of their healing process.
"The nests offer security and warmth, which is essential in rehabilitating wildlife," Deline-Ray told The Dodo.
Image: facebook/wildlife rescue nests
Deline-Ray currently has around 800 volunteers and 240 wildlife rehabilitation centers on her mailing list, and she hopes the numbers will continue to grow. But, originally, it was just Deline-Ray doing the knitting — and it all started with an inconvenient injury of her own.
In 2013, Deline-Ray broke her hand, and was briefly stuck at home browsing the Internet. One day, she discovered a live webcam of a hummingbird nest, and in the comments section, she read about a woman who designed rehab nests for hummingbirds in her spare time.
"I thought it was a brilliant idea," Deline-Ray said. Thus, Wildlife Rescue Nests was born.
Image: facebook/wildlife rescue nests
Now, Deline-Ray and her team make nests for small and medium mammals, birds and bats. For animals who prefer darkness, the team makes "cave" nests, which are designed particularly for cave-dwellers and burrowers.
And since each nest is made by a different artisan, each nest is uniquely colorful and cute.
Image: facebook/wildlife rescue nests
Deline-Ray hopes to continue expanding her project worldwide, and she's always seeking new volunteers. It's important work — with every new nest, another animal gets a better chance of successfully re-entering the wild.
